Parenting

Booklets

This colorful booklet lists all the ritual items needed for the Passover table. The history and significance of each item on the seder plate is explained, as are the customs that have been handed down through the generations in different centers of Jewish life.

Events

InterfaithFamily and the Workmen's Circle are celebrating Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish New Year for the trees, and you're invited!
Join us for a FREE afternoon filled with food, music, art projects and social justice.

For Program Providers

A great way for Jewish professionals and volunteers who work with and provide programming for people in interfaith relationships to locate resources and trainings to build more welcome into their Jewish communities; connect with and learn from each other; and publicize and enhance their programs and services.

Jewish Intermarriage Statistics

The current intermarriage rate in the Jewish community is 47%. This figure is 10 years old (see below), but it is the most up-to-date figure available. The rest of this document summarizes key statistics related to Jewish intermarriage, with references and links to their sources.

Key Intermarriage Statistics

26% are between a Jewish person and a person who doesn't affiliate with any religion[6].

33% of children in intermarriages are raised as Jews[7]. The percentage varies greatly by community, however. In Boston, for example, 60% of children of interfaith families are raised as Jews. In Baltimore, 62% of children of intermarriage are raised as Jews. Conversely, in Denver, only 18% are being raised Jewish[8].

27% of married people in the U.S. are in interfaith marriages. When you count Protestant denominations as different religions, the number jumps to 37%[9]. Roughly 35 million people in the U.S. are in interfaith marriages[10].

Key Jewish Population Statistics

Between 5.2 million[11] and 6.5 million[12] Jews live in the U.S. Jews make up roughly 2% of the U.S. population.

There are 14.4 million Jews throughout the world. 5.7 million Jews live in Israel. After the U.S. and Israel, the countries with the largest Jewish populations, in descending order, are France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Russia and Argentina. Jews make up .2% of the world population[13].

The metropolitan areas with the largest Jewish populations are, in descending order, Tel Aviv, New York, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, Haifa, South Florida, Beersheba, San Francisco, Paris and Chicago[14].

Background on Intermarriage in the Jewish Community

For much of American Jewish history, intermarriage was relatively rare. The incidence of intermarriage started to increase in the 1970s (from 13% to 28%). Many Jews know the story of a relative who was disowned (in some cases, mourned as if he or she had died) when he or she married a non-Jew.

In response to the increase in intermarriage, the Reform movement took two controversial steps: it created an outreach department to reach out to and welcome intermarried couples, and decided to recognize the children of Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers as Jews (under traditional Jewish law, only children of Jewish mothers are considered Jews).

But when the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey revealed that close to half of all new marriages involving Jews in the previous five years were to non-Jews, intermarriage shot to the top of the Jewish community's agenda.

Because Judaism doesn't encourage proselytizing and Jews are such a small minority (somewhere between 5.2 million and 6.5 million), some Jews consider the ongoing high rate of intermarriage a threat to the continued existence of the Jewish people. Major Jewish figures have been harshly critical of intermarriage and view outreach to the intermarried as a waste of limited communal resources. Major Jewish organizations see promoting Jewish in-marriage as one of their explicit or implicit fundamental goals.

In the last two decades, there has been a growing awareness that writing off intermarried families may mean writing off a Jewish future. Intermarriage can be an opportunity to sustain and even grow the Jewish population both quantitatively and qualitatively. If more than 50% of interfaith families raise their children as Jews, interfaith families will actually increase the size of the Jewish population. But intermarried couples will only make Jewish choices if the Jewish community genuinely welcomes them. InterfaithFamily is a leading advocate for building such an inclusive Jewish community.

Historical U.S. Intermarriage Rates, 1970-2001

The following table is from the National Jewish Population Survey 2000-2001.[15]

8 All community figures are from Arnold Dashefsky, Ira M. Sheskin, and Ron Miller, FAQs on American Jews — Number 2, Intermarriage Data (Storrs, Conn.: Mandell L. Berman Institute North American Jewish Data Bank, Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, 2010): 3-8. The tables include data for many other cities as well.

15 The percentage figure in the table represents the percentage of the marriages that took place, during the years indicated, that were intermarriages. In other words, for all marriages involving a Jew between 1980 and 1984, 38% were intermarriages.

InterfaithFamily is the premier resource supporting interfaith couples exploring Jewish life and inclusive Jewish communities. We offer educational content; connections to welcoming organizations, professionals and programs; resources and trainings for organizations, clergy and other program providers; and our new InterfaithFamily/Your Community initiative providing coordinated comprehensive offerings in local communities.

If you have suggestions, please contact network at interfaithfamily dot com.